Another idea is to take some school days and do some "fun school" things you wanted to do this year and didn't get to it:

have an afternoon dance party

go on a field trip

have a history movie lesson

have a formal tea with the kids and classical music

have a picnic in the living room for lunch

let the kids do school in a fort under the table

plan a day trip for when school ends

have a day at the beach school day - turn up the heat, wear shorts & sunglasses & listen to beach boys music, make Hawaiian leis and have a luau for lunch (or whatever you associate with summer)

bake a cake and have a pizza party when you hit 10 weeks left of school (or 50 days or something significant for your family)

plan your end of school celebration

I personally don't get down, I just get antsy. The disorder of my bookshelves, my dwindling marker supply, having to read 1-more-chapter...it cumulatively adds up to me wanting to:

make something beautiful - what color should I paint my kitchen?

make the world more beautiful - should I go with a color scheme for my front flowers this year?

put my bookshelves in order and not look at them for months on end

SPRING CLEANING

Since we're still doing school, I can't fulfill my antsy longings. So, I made a countdown calendar instead. If you take a spring break, mark that on the calendar. Then, fill in how many school days you have starting with your end date and working your way backwards. I put the real calendar dates on the weekends, so you can keep track if you miss a few days of marking off. THEN, scribble all over the dates as you complete them! There's something cathartic about scribbling.

And here's mine filled out - we end May 1, 2015 this year.

I'm totally psyched about my countdown calendar. I might frame mine. I can hear the music of the garden...

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Highland – because we are highlanders from Scotland. My son Andrew is named after the patron saint
of Scotland. And as MacDonalds – we take our clan Donald heritage
seriously.

Dove because we pray that the Holy Spirit permeates everything we do and every
part of our lives.

We are a Catholic family and strive to love Jesus with every fiber of our
being.

In our school, we strive follow a Classical Model of
Education

This
means that, like the world view of Christendom, Christ is at the center of our
studies.

Also,
like the Scholastics of the Medieval period we seek God in the patterns of His
creation.

We
all know that God orders the season. And
we know children go through “phases”.

The
Medievalists took advantage of these patterns of childhood and utilized them in
HOW they taught children at different levels.

The ages in our Classical model more accurately reflect what we know today
about the growth in children’s brains, while taking advantage of the “ages and stages” of children’s natural growth.

An aspect of the Classical Model is
that the content of the subjects are taught “ON PURPOSE”.

The thread in our classical homeschool is history. History teaches us about who
we are as humans – what we’re capable of, good and bad, and where we fit in
God’s design.We learn all this without
having to live through the good, bad and the ugly of making these decisions for
ourselves. Instead, we see others' decisions and their consequences – sometimes for
all of history.The subject of history
is the thread ties many of our subjects together.

History is tied with Literature. So while we read about a people and their time
period in history, we also are reading their stories and understanding those
stories, as much as we can, through their eyes.

History and Literature are tied with Science.
So the scientific discoveries made today, standing on the shoulders of
giants from scientists past, are the same names and biographies we’re reading
in history and literature.

In my homeschool theology is tied in
together with history.

In
our Classical homeschool, all
ages study the same topics at the same time – each at their own level. I’m not trying to teach Julius Caesar to one child and trying while
explaining the causes and consequences of WWI to another. My brain can only be so divided, so this
helps me as a teacher not have to keep as many balls in the air.

The
end result of this, is that the youngest students in my school feel just as
capable as the high school kids to participate in a dinner discussion of the
Crimean War. Another great aspect of
this is that the older kids assist the younger kids and enjoy helping them
because in teaching we often learn more readily.

History follows a 4 year cycle in our Classical Homeschoolon a 4 year rotating basis.

— so the kids
hit the same topics 3 times in their 12-year homeschooling career. The benefits
of this are many, but one of the biggest is retention.

They’ll
say, “OHHH, I remember when we studied aqua
ducts and I made one out of cardboard tubes.” This means I don’t stress about them
missing or not comprehending one historical personality because we’ll hit that
again in 4 years.

Another
benefit of our 4 year cycle is that the kids are more prepared to tackle the
harder topics once they hit high school.
The Illiad
isn’t so scary and daunting to tackle because these characters are as familiar
to the kids as fairy tales. Some of them
are old friends and revisiting them and learning about them on a deeper level
is as exciting as watching the sequel to the next superhero movie. – Well,
maybe not THAT exciting. But definitely
less scary.

Our 4 Year Cycle is broken down like this:

Year
1 -Ancients Creation
- Life
of Christ &
the early church

(Beginning of recorded history – 400 AD)

We
study the Ancients in History, Greek & Roman stories in Literature. While we learn about the Ancient Egyptians
and their ability to preserve bodies as mummies and do brain surgery – we’re
learning Biology in science. All the
ages learn biology at the same time, on their own level.

Year 2 - Middle Ages (400 AD - 1500 AD)

We study Medieval History, and Medieval Literature. While we learn about the Crusades and the learning they brought back from what they would consider ‘the ends of the earth’ – we’re learning Astronomy and Earth Science.

Year 3 – World History: Renaissance – Present(1500 AD – Present)

We study History from a World perspective. While wonderful ideas came out of the Renaissance, some really un-Christian ideas came out as well. To see the err in how this Modernism and Relativism has crept into our American way of thinking, we have to look at the Renaissance and its effects on its own, while also placing it in the continuity of history. We study the stories of some classic British authors we well as others in Literature of this era. While the world learns about Pasteurization and struggles with the Spanish Flu, we learn Chemistry. In Religion we learn how science and faith are not opposed to each other and how one nurtures and sustains the other.

Year 4 – American History (1500 AD – 9/11/2001)

We study American History. We are Americans and should know our own history well. In researching other Classical Models, I saw a lack of American History in them, so needed to come up with a model I felt good about using with my students. We also study the classics of American Literature. While our scientists were splitting atoms in WWII, we learn Physics in science and in religion, we study the application of our faith for today’s society.

The beauty of this repeating cycle, besides easing the students into difficult concepts at an easy pace and increased retention, is that students can be “folded” into the cycle. With several of my children, our school was on year 3 when they were ready for high school level work. They simply began high school with Year 3, then 4 and finished up with Year 1, graduating after Year 2.

Friday, January 02, 2015

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

"Timmy" is Will(7)'s Christmas present. The cat was $10 through the SPCA -- we spent $50 on a cat carrier, food, litter, box, etc. LOL. Timmy is 11 weeks old, now. We got him the week before Christmas. Will is THRILLED with his kitten.Will got a BIG dose of reality when the kitten came home from the SPCA with a slight cough and it developed into a massive respiratory infection. Will wasn't allowed to touch his very sick kitten for about 5 days (over Christmas) while the cat rested and struggled for breath. At 7, the sweetness of a new kitten is too much temptation to be careful with every touch, so we held the kitten, but gave Timmy space from his excited, loving owner. Every night we warned Will the kitten might not make it through the night and every morning we held our breath when Will went to see his kitten in the morning. Indiana kids -- just learning life on life's terms.

Another $20 for bublegum amoxicillan (.5ml 3x/day -- apparently, there are 2 doses for cats: .5ml for kittens and 1ml for full grown cats. Good to know next time.) But the antibiotic did the trick and Will and the kitten are getting to be friends.Jenny is our 3yr old smooth-coated collie / yellow lab mix we got as a Christmas puppy 3 yrs ago. I wanted a rowdy puppy to keep the boys interested - and that's what I got. Jenny is freaked out when the kitten tries to cuddle up to her, but Jenny and Timmy are having more and more positive "moments" now that Timmy is perking up and getting interesting.

Will chose the most playful kitten in the shelter. While Timmy was cuddly when ill, he's now showing his true nature - Timmy apparently likes coffee in the morning (mine). The kitten also likes attacking my laptop screen with a flying leap everytime the page changes.Will, prayed every night during the rosary for nine months for a new kitten. The day he got the kitten, he told God THANK YOU, and asked for a bunny.

Then, when you know what's working (or what's not) be prepared to just tweak a little.

IF you want to pick and choose (design your own) curriculum, I don't usually advise it in your first year. However, kindergarten is a GREAT time to play around with different curriculum to learn how you like to teach and how your child learns best.

The way you do that is choose ONE subject, research, then choose. If you get stuck and can't decide (you've narrowed down your choices and just can't pare them down any more), then try to figure out a different subject. Come back to your undecided subjects with a little more information under your belt. So which one are you going to start with?

Our lives can sometimes feel so overwhelming -- and sometimes they are. These are the stories she hears every. day. Making a genuine difference in someone's life can sometimes cost alot -- time, relationships, vulnerability, heart ache. This time, it's only $6. That's not alot.Very often we have to be so cautious to know where our donation dollars go. Research. Analysis. Time. Effort. This time, though, we know where it goes. Are you a Mama? A grandpa? An aunt? Wouldn't you give so much more than $6 to make sure the young mother in your life is safe along with her baby? This is just $6.If you decide not help Colleen, then help someone in your life. THIS is what makes life meaningful.